Eight - Nothing Can Keep Us Apart

The book on mythical stones held the key to their freedom, he could feel it. Despite the fact that he already had the entire thing memorized cover-to-cover, there was something to be said for flipping through the pages to recheck the fading words. Edward was on his way to the library to consult the book again when he heard Aro's syrupy voice, setting his teeth on edge and forcing him to slip into a darkened alcove to avoid detection.

"The others are growing concerned, Isabella," Aro said lightly. "But their concern is misplaced, isn't it? You are my most valuable asset, little bird, and you have yet to fail me in anything. Will this be the first time?" There was a shuffle of shoes on the carpet and his voice softened to a razor sharp edge. "Need I remind you how disobedience is punished in my court?"

"No, sire," Bella cleared her throat. "I remember."

"Of course you do, my lovely one. I have perfected my technique over the years for maximum retention and your skin was… a most receptive canvas for my lesson."

Edward felt nauseous at the myriad of implications in Aro's words. At first opportunity, he would find out what the malicious bastard had done to her and tear his papery limbs from his–

"You have the Cullen boy eating from the palm of your hand already," Aro continued. "Simply lead him to believe he has reached the object of his desire so that I may finally acquire mine. I need him, little bird. There is no alternative and I tire of waiting."

"Yes, sire."

There was a pause before Aro sighed, "Ah. Your reticence tells me that you have come to care for him. I'll tell you what – you do this for me and, as a token of my generosity and thanks, I will gift him to you once he joins us. You may even keep him collared like a mutt in your room if you wish, so long as you let me use him from time to time. I may not be able to read your thoughts, Isabella, but I can read your face. Lead him to me and I will give him to you."

She sounded so small and defeated, "Of course, sire. Thank you."

He chuckled and the menacing sound raised the hair on the back of Edward's neck, "No, little bird, thank you."

x-x-x

There were numbers in her head.

She couldn't pinpoint where the numbers were from or how she knew them, but they were there all the same. Not only were they in her head, dominating her thoughts, haunting her stolen memories… but they were calling out to her. Beckoning, like the most tempting of sirens.

Isabella flipped the chunky black and silver cell phone around in her hands, contemplating. She knew now that there was nothing more dangerous than chasing an errant thought-slash-possible memory to see where it led – it only took one look around at where she was currently confined to confirm that – but this felt different. Comforting.

Safe.

Before it was too late and she talked herself out of it, Isabella quickly dialed the phone number and pressed 'call'.

2.6 seconds and one and a half rings later, there was an elfish, lyrical voice.

"Bella? Oh my God, is that really you?"

Her mouth opened to respond but nothing came out. She could almost feel Aro's papery hands wrapped around her throat, cutting off her words and snapping her granite neck. Worse still, what if it was Edward's neck rather than her own? The sadistic head of the Volturi loved things like that, loved to use whomever or whatever someone held most precious to hurt… to manipulate… to control.

"Bella, please. We're all here and I can See you again! Tell us what you need? How can we help?"

Isabella's hands were shaking, the world tilting precariously. What was she doing? Who were these people? What if Aro found out? Would he punish her again? Would he hurt Edward? She couldn't let that happen. No. No. Something deep in her bones, further even, demanded she protect Edward above all else. So many things were uncertain, but the most irrefutable? Nothing else mattered if something were to happen to him.

There was a short scuffle on the other end of the phone before another woman's voice took over, this one lower but opulent and sultry, like a seductive, floral perfume, "Tell us where you are and we'll find you."

Venomous tears sprang to her eyes and she suddenly wanted to weep. The breath caught in her throat as Isabella covered her mouth with a trembling hand to stifle the weakness this woman inspired in her. She suddenly felt like a child again, a lost, frightened lamb begging to be saved from the wolves who would devour her – and all that was dear to her – whole.

"Please," she choked, "I don't know what to do."

Voices tittered in the background but the woman was resolute, "Where are you?"

"He won't let us go. He… he wants us both."

"Isabella Marie Swan," the woman barked, "pull yourself together and tell me where you are."

If it weren't for vampire reflexes, she absolutely would have dropped the phone. How..? "That was my name," Isabella felt the letters settle like a warm cloak around her shoulders and she knew she was right. These people knew her. "Are you… Edward's family?"

There was a slight pause before the woman, who spoke in a way that felt like pricking a finger on a roses's thorns, scoffed, "Don't be stupid, Bella. We're your family, too."

And just like that, the decision was made for her.

"Italy," Isabella whispered into the phone. "We're in Italy."

x-x-x

That night, once the castle's human occupants had gone to bed and the vampire ones found their attention held elsewhere outside castle walls – namely, to hunt helpless humans under the cover of darkness – there was a soft knock on the door even earlier than anticipated.

Edward set aside the book on mythical stones and opened the door to see Bella twisting her fingers anxiously, nibbling on her lush bottom lip in a way he could draw from memory with his eyes closed.

"Isabella? Is everything–"

"Why didn't you leave?" She blurted. It was only now that Edward realized her thick hair was a mess, as if she'd been running her hands through it repeatedly. Bella paced before him a few times. "The first time we went hunting, we were far enough from the castle that you could have escaped and with your speed, no one could have caught up to you in time to bring you back. I took you all the way to the mountains and you… you still came back with me. Why didn't you run when I gave you the chance?"

"You think I would risk putting you in harm's way for openly defying Aro?"

Bella shoved past him into the room, golden eyes blazing as she hissed, "I lied to you about my gift. Desires are never vague, if anything they are hyper-specific, and what you seek is written as clearly as a tattoo on your skin and you aren't looking for love. It's me." She poked a long finger into the skin above where his heart would be. "Why does someone who doesn't know me hold me as their deepest desire? What I see… it's not just something you want; it's something you would die for. Something you would do unspeakable things to obtain."

He wanted to tell her, the words were on the very tip of his tongue, but he couldn't. Instead, Edward nodded.

"Did you change me? Is that what this is, you coming to reclaim your property? Is that why I feel connected to you?"

"You are no one's property, Isabella," the very thought churned his stomach given the myriad of circumstances from her past lives. "And even if I had been the one to change you, that is not how it works. Changing someone doesn't dictate ownership, loyalty, or even civility. A bite is a bite and it only means as much as you want it to."

She stared at him, eyes flitting between his like she was reading a particularly complicated text, "Then why would someone who doesn't know me choose to remain a prisoner of the Volturi?"

Edward moved closer and cupped the slope of her jaw with his hand, thumb swiping across her cheek, "Because nothing in this life or any other is worth it without you."

Bella's answering smile was exultant, "I was right. You knew me."

"No," he whispered against her lips, heart full and feeling utterly right for the first time in his painfully long life. "I've always known you."

In a flurry of limbs, gasps, and clacking teeth, Bella had Edward's back pressed against the intricately carved mahogany wood as they nearly melted into each other, slamming the bedroom door shut and protecting them from prying eyes and scheming master's for just a little while longer.

x-x-x

Edward's fingers danced along the ridges of her spine as they both floated serenely in hazes of comforting bliss. He probably should have been ashamed at how pleased he was at the warmth and softness of her skin, but there was no use in lying to himself anymore. She was a vampire, exactly as he'd always secretly desired, and there was now a real possibility of forever for them that left him nearly giddy with anticipation. He'd passed the tests from the timestone, preserved the fractured pieces of Bella's soul. All that was left was figuring out how to escape the Volturi alive so they could finally secure their bond and spend the rest of time together.

"Mmm…" Bella inhaled deeply at the skin of his throat and broke him from his thoughts. "You smell sweet, like honeysuckle. It's so familiar."

He pulled her closer with a flare of hope, "Something from your human life perhaps?"

"Maybe, but you certainly don't smell anything like the one I remember."

"Who?"

"The one who changed me."

Edward froze, "You remember that?"

"Bits and pieces are coming back to me, the longer you're here," she confirmed with a gentle shrug. "The details are still fuzzy, but I know it was a woman with curly hair almost the same shade of red as her eyes."

His blood – metaphorically – ran cold. Victoria.

Of fucking course it was Victoria. Who else would have sent Bella to a place like Volterra? She undoubtedly had hoped that Aro would either enslave Bella to hurt him for killing James or use her to lure Edward to Italy in the hopes of them both being killed at the Volturi's hands.

The former had come to fruition and the latter was a serious possibility.

"Edward?"

He pulled himself back to the present to see his mate staring up at him in concern, "Hmm?"

"I asked if that might be someone you knew? The red-haired woman."

"I may have," he admitted with barely suppressed rage, "though I can't be certain. Do you know what happened to her – afterwards?"

She shook her head, "The last time I saw her was when I woke up from the change in a big abandoned house."

Please don't let it be… "What did the house look like?"

"It was white, with a big wraparound porch and the entire back wall was made of glass."

Fucking hell; the sadistic bitch had even taken Bella to their house to twist the knife deeper.

"You're shaking," Bella whispered. "You know her and the house she took me to, don't you?"

Edward clenched his fists.

"Was it… your house?"

He nodded sharply.

"She did it to hurt you."

The words slid through clenched teeth, "She did it to hurt us both."

Bella drew anxious circles on the planes of his chest, her mouth opening and closing a few times as she seemingly struggled over something. After a few moments of tense silence, she let out a long breath, "Edward, there's something I want to tell you. Things are starting to come back to me and… earlier, I called–"

The door to the bedroom suddenly slammed open so hard it bounced off of the stucco wall behind it. Aro came striding in with Caius and Dimitri flanking him on either side; the Botticelli twins – Jane and Alec – were right on their heels, arms entwined and scarlet eyes hungry as they surveyed the occupants of the room. Edward sat up, the sheet falling to his waist, while Bella had her side of the fabric pulled against her chest to cover her partial nakedness.

"Edward, Isabella; lovely to see you both again," Aro smiled and clapped his hands together in a way that sent chills down his spine. "How fortuitous that you are here together."

Bella's grip on the sheet tightened, "Sire, please. If you would just–"

He held up a hand to stop her, "I'm afraid you have worn my patience thin, little bird. I fear I can no longer trust you to carry out my wishes. It seems I will have to do it myself."

Edward felt her stiffen beside him as she subtly shifted in front of his body, "No… sire, please. You can't–!"

"One more word, Isabella, and I'll have you dragged to the dungeons by the roots of your hair," Aro snapped with finality, Caius and Dimitri taking a single step forward as if to forcibly remove her. "Perhaps you need a more public reminder of how dissension is punished in my court? I wonder what your Edward might do, should he be forced to watch such a… meticulous display of correction."

She moved, resigned, to the edge of the plush bed with trembling limbs and Edward saw the jagged, criss-crossed scars marring the otherwise perfect marble skin of her back. They were new, somehow fresh… he'd known every inch of her skin and they hadn't been there before her change.

Your skin was… a most receptive canvas for my lesson.

Oh, God. Aro had tortured her in a gruesome enough way that even being a vampire couldn't heal. The pain he'd inflicted not only left its mark on her skin, but the terror on her face painted a vivid picture of the scarring the torture left on her psyche as well.

"I'll stay," Edward grabbed his mate's wrist to halt her movement. "I'll join your court. I'll fill any role you desire just… don't hurt her any more. Please."

Aro smiled in triumph, "See? Now, was that so–"

"If you keep him prisoner, I will never use my powers for you again," Bella yanked her arm away and threw on her discarded black, cotton dress with lightning speed, quickly tossing him his clothing as well. "Edward has a whole life to return to, a family who misses him. To keep him trapped here would be cruel and I won't be part of it!"

The situation was rapidly spiraling out of control and Edward felt nausea clawing at his throat. He slid into his clothes in seconds, murmuring, "I won't leave you here, Isabella. I told you–"

"And I'm telling you," she hissed right back, planting herself like a granite shield between Edward and the Volturi. "I won't let you throw your life away in this place for me. How could you ask me to keep you in chains?"

"You dare? You dare to tell me what I can and cannot do in my own court after all I have done for you?" Aro stalked closer to the opulent bed with narrowed, milky eyes. "You dare to defy me after I exalted you, a worthless no one, and gave you a special place by my side?"

Bella held her head high, "I will not condemn him to a life of being locked in your cage, no matter what that means for me."

The head of the Volturi looked terrifyingly content, as if the most pleasant thought suddenly occurred to him. He cocked his head, an evil grin spreading across his papery face while his eyes took special note of the way Bella's body was angled protectively in front of Edward, "Duly noted. Jane?"

She blinked her large, owlish eyes once before turning them on her master, "Yes?"

"Our little bird seems to have lost her way. Would you please assist me with guiding her back to where she belongs?"

Dread, fetid and rank, slithered down the notches of his spine. Edward knew of the Volturi's respective powers from the cautionary stories Carlisle had told them over the years. Aro boasted tactile telepathy, Marcus saw relationships, Dimitri was a tracker, and the twins…

Jane could plunge someone into a world of the most agonizing suffering, turning them into nothing but a vessel for pain, while Alec negated all the senses, leaving nothing but nothing behind. Both were said to be excruciating in their own way.

Not my mate. Not my Bella!

Edward reached for her with the intention of doing anything in his power to protect her from the horrors he knew Jane would inflict, but Bella was already lunging straight at him, eyes wide with terror, "No!"

All at once, as if the world was moving in slow motion, Dimitri and Caius slammed into her with the sound of boulders colliding, pinning her to the floor as she howled his name. He looked up to see Jane's eerie gaze catch his own and there was only a millisecond before it hit him.

Pain.

Scorching. Searing. Ripping. Tearing.

There was acid in his veins. Flames riding his blood like a horseman of the apocalypse. Jagged shards of ice flayed him open, leaving his organs exposed to the gnashing teeth of those Botticelli demons.

Edward's back arched and he fell back against the bed as screams involuntarily ripped from the furthest recesses of his throat. His body twisted and contorted in unimaginable ways, ways that would have snapped his spine had he been human. Everything else fell away until he was pain. He was agony. Every inch of his skin was made of glass and Jane was the hammer, pounding away until he shattered into a million, irreparable pieces. There was no surviving this. What was surviving anyway? He didn't want it. He didn't want anything. He just wanted it to stop.

Please.

Please.

Through the haze of burning, aching torture, a single bright light tickled at his weeping consciousness. It smelled like freesia and lavender and sunlight and forgiveness. It smelled like second chances and sand and the rainforest and snow. Like Forks and Persia and Mexico and England.

Bella. Isabella.

His life. His love. His mate.

That was why he couldn't give in to the pain, to the madness threatening to consume him as readily as the knives scraping away at his skin and muscle. She needed him.

The pain receded and left him panting, his vision returning only for him to see his reason for existence being manhandled as roughly as if she were as strong as Emmett.

"Edward!" Bella screamed, fingertips brushing against his forearm before Dimitri and Caius dragged her through the door. "Whatever they say, whatever they promise – it's all a lie! Aro wants to keep you collared like a dog, regardless of what happens to me. They–"

"Shut the fuck up!" Dimitri backhanded Bella so hard that her head snapped to the side. Her head lolled forward, dazed from the sheer force.

"B-Bella…" Edward forced his twitching, aching limbs to move his body in an attempt to get to her.

She was dragged out of the room by her biceps and Aro shook his head, "Such a waste; I thought she could be different. Ah, well. We live and we learn." He tilted his head to the other twin. "Alec? If you would be so kind?"

Completely monotone and devoid of emotion, Alec's eyes turned to Edward, "Yes, sire."

And then, there was nothing but the cold embrace of oblivion.

x-x-x

Isabella wrenched her left arm back into its socket, eyeing the dank, stony walls of the dungeon with mounting frustration. When she had first arrived in Volterra, Caius had insisted on keeping her locked away here until, one day, Aro had finally decided to come down and touch her. The moment he realized his gift didn't work on her, he was intrigued. When she'd naively mentioned that she was able to see a person's deepest desire as if written on their skin, he became hungry. After admitting to having no memory of who she was, he'd been nearly frothing at the mouth. With nothing but the hazy memory of someone whispering 'Volterra' in her ear as the agony of the change thundered through her broken human body, Isabella felt confident that she'd found the place she was meant to be and readily agreed to join Aro and his guard.

Even as Aro tortured her, even as he lashed her naked back with whips interwoven with werewolf teeth to mark her as a part of his 'collection' and ensure she understood what happened to traitors, Isabella never regretted her choice. Something important led her to Italy. Something integral to her very soul kept her by Aro's sadistic side day after day, carrying out his orders… waiting. Always looking over her shoulder, out the windows, across the city. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

Now, she understood. She'd been waiting for Edward Cullen.

The moment she'd first set eyes on him in the throne room, it was like the world had shifted on its axis. Suddenly, it was no longer gravity holding her to the earth, but him. The feeling of being so utterly drawn to someone, so desperate for them, was too terrifying for her to even contemplate at first. So she had tried to pretend she didn't feel it – tried to pretend that his gaze didn't send jolts of electricity across her skin and his touch didn't set her teeth on edge from the sheer way it made her want.

But Isabella had given in to that bone-deep need, just a little, in the library and now she was irrevocably changed. Edward had pushed right past her defenses and burrowed beneath her diamond skin, settling himself comfortably within the confines of her ribcage and altering the physiology within forever. Something about him – his butterscotch eyes, dazzling, lopsided smile, tentative yet starving touch as he consumed her – was more than simply familiar. Edward felt like coming home; like honeysuckle and lilac and sunshine and absolution. Kissing him, touching him, loving him settled across her shoulders like drizzling rain, scorching sand, stifling jungles, and frigid snow. Whatever had happened to her before the change and everything after was to bring them together; she could feel it.

Edward had found his way to her and though she didn't know how far he'd come in his journey, she could see the weariness in his eyes when he looked at her. There was a constant undercurrent of fear in his kiss, a desperation on the pads of his fingers as if terrified that she would suddenly disappear.

Not fucking likely.

She grit her teeth and rolled her shoulders, feeling the scars Aro left on her back pull against the skin. Edward trapped himself in Volterra for her. Now, it was her turn to make sure they made it out alive. But how?

Isabella fingered the cell phone in the left pocket of her dress, thankful that Aro was always too arrogant to be truly thorough. The item she had discretely stolen from Edward's own pocket just moments before being dragged to the dungeon sat heavily against her right thigh, almost as heavily as the guilt she felt for taking it behind his back when it was clearly important to him. She took it out and caressed the smooth surface of the preseli bluestone with the pad of her thumb. Something in her gut had screamed at her to take the stone before Dimitri and Caius could get their hands on her.

Information gathered over the last few days raced across her mind. Based on the book he'd taken from the library along with the pages within that he'd read so many times they crinkled tellingly, she was starting to understand what it might be and why he constantly held it so closely.

A timestone.

Had Edward truly traveled across time to find her? It felt arrogant to assume something so bold, but why else would he always seem ready for her to disappear? Why else would he hold tightly to such a rare item of power?

Power… Power!

What did Aro crave, what did he desire, if not power? She thought back to the shifting desires scrawled across his papery skin, always changing but somehow they all held a single commonality.

Like the pieces of a puzzle, a plan began to take shape in her mind. Aro would never hold an audience or willingly negotiate with her now, not after she openly defied him for Edward. She'd be surprised if he ever even ventured into the dungeons again; he did love to starve dissenters to death, after all, and as his Enforcer, Isabella was typically the only one allowed or expected to travel this far down. That was likely why he imprisoned her in the place that was known as her territory – some perverted sense of poetic justice. But if she was bold enough to break out and managed to get to Edward unscathed, Aro would come. Someone in the guard was undoubtedly watching the place where Edward was being held captive but was probably under strict orders to alert Aro in case anyone broke in or out. Inability to delegate always struck her as one of Aro's most damning weaknesses.

Yes. Yes.

Isabella slipped the timestone back into her pocket, confident that it could be the leverage she needed to free them both. She moved quickly to the edge of the 6x6 stone cell, decision made. Just as she began gripping the damp bars of the cell door between her fingers, intent on wrenching it from the hinges, the phone in her pocket vibrated eagerly against her leg.

That familiar feeling of 'safe' returned as she answered the call, same as when she had followed the numbers in her head before.

"Hello?"

"If you break out from the door, the guards above will hear the noise and you'll only have 3 minutes to escape," the woman with the elfin, lyrical voice chirped. "You won't make it to Edward in time that way."

Flashes of another life danced across Isabella's mind; water-gun fights in the summer, clothing that felt far too small but left Edward breathless, sitting together at the movies, nails painted horrific shades of pink, hair being curled and pinned within an inch of its life. The memories weren't quite concrete yet, but rather it was like viewing them through a moving fog.

"A-Alice…" She murmured and the name felt right, fitting. This time, louder. "Alice?"

There was a distinct sniffle on the other end, "Glad to hear you haven't completely forgotten your best friend."

"I swear, I didn't–"

"No time. We can hash out the details and guilt-trips later," Alice cut in. "The weakest bars in the cell are the pair six in from the right wall. Pull them apart and they should make almost no noise when bent. I can't see anything too detailed, but I do know you'll find Edward in the room where Aro… where he hurt you. You'll be able to slip in with no trouble."

She shivered at the knowledge that she would have to enter that torture chamber again, but pushed the feeling aside to focus on Edward. Aro was not known for leniency and if he took Edward to that room, it was for only one purpose: to either break Edward's will or to break her by hurting him.

The error in her previous assumption hit her like a ton of bricks then. Aro wasn't planning to starve her to death in the dungeons like the others – he was betting on her breaking out and finding Edward. Aro had planted the perfect bait by torturing her… by torturing her…

By torturing her mate.

Sick, sadistic motherfucker.

Somewhere far away, Isabella vaguely registered Alice speaking to someone on the other end of the call before there was a brief shuffle of the phone being exchanged between hands.

"Bella, listen to me carefully. I know you're pissed," a different woman acknowledged, her voice reminiscent again of a floral perfume, "and I get it. But if you try to attack any of the Volturi, you'll both be killed. Alice has seen it."

More memories were projected against the moving fog; karaoke night, disparaging comments over movie protagonists, 'I want to know your intentions for my brother'.

The breath caught in her throat like before and she suddenly felt very, very small, "R-Rosalie…?"

"Good to have you coming back to us, Bella," Rosalie said softly. "Now pull yourself together and get your ass to Edward. Alice can't guarantee your success, but you have a solid plan that she has seen go fairly smooth. We're only a few hours out from Volterra so save my brother, swindle those ancient bastards, and get the fuck out of the city so we can go home."

"I will," Isabella vowed, prying apart the steel bars Alice indicated with sheer force until they were bent far enough to accommodate her small frame. "I swear, I will get us out of here if it's the last thing I ever do."

"Alice says you have 8 minutes to get to Edward. And Bella?"

She was already sprinting through the stone halls, hair whipping back from her temples in the musty, dank air, "Yes?"

Rosalie's voice was thick and full of emotion that tore at her heart, "I was wrong about everything. I'm sorry if I ever hurt you, but just in case anything… I-I want you to know that I couldn't ask for a better sister."

There was so much she wanted to say, so many questions she wanted to ask about the things she was starting to remember, but there was no time. Instead, Isabella simply steeled herself for whatever was to come when she finally reached Edward and responded with the only thing that she knew, deep in the furthest recesses of her heart, to be true, "This isn't the end, Rose. I won't let it be."

Edward's sister, her sister, let out an affectionate chuckle, "Of course you won't. Be safe. We'll be there soon."

The call ended and Isabella shoved the phone back into the empty pocket of her dress, vigor renewed. She pushed herself harder, forced herself to move faster, determined to save Edward the way she could feel he'd saved her. Fear had no home within her anymore – she was tired of being nothing more than a pawn for others, tired of being manipulated and controlled by uncertainty and loss.

The place she came from, who she had been, whatever happened before didn't matter. The only thing that mattered now was that Edward – her treasured, precious soulmate – needed her and she would burn the world to the ground to get to him.

God help anyone who stood between Isabella and Edward.